This teaching on 1 Peter 4:17-19 was given by pastor Barry Forder and was recorded on 6th September 2020 at Calvary Chapel Portsmouth’s on-line family service.
Peter tells us that the specific season of judgment that is coming upon the earth will begin with the ‘house of God’ – the Church!
Initially it might seem strange that God would need to bring judgment on the church, but as you look back through history you quickly begin to see how ‘the church’ has led so many into error for the sake of financial and other gain. The Word of God has been repeatedly compromised, watered down, twisted to fit the thinking and culture of the day and even abandoned in favour of self-help motivational pep talks.
Jesus, Paul, Jude, John and Peter all warned that deception would abound in the last days, and that it would largely come from withing the church.
Revelation 17 & 18 deal with the final judgment on what will become a One World Church – embracing all religious thoughts, ideas and expressions. This will be a far cry from the ‘faith once delivered to the saints’!
True believers have been persecuted as much by the institutional church as they have by the world.
In Matthew 13, Jesus warned that ‘Tares’ would be sown amongst the ‘Wheat’. The Tares would grow alongside and look identical to the Wheat – right up until the time of the harvest, when the only difference would be that the heads on the Wheat (true believers) would bow, but the heads of the Tares (apostates) would remain defiantly upright!
Jesus also said that ‘at the time of the end’ the Angels would come and separate the Wheat and the Tares. The Wheat would be gathered into His barn (a beautiful picture of the Rapture), the Tares would then be burned – a picture of the coming judgment that Peter speaks of.
May you be blessed, challenged and encouraged by this study!
